A decision feedback equalizer (DFE) is used to reconstruct electrical signals that have been distorted during transmission over a communication channel. The equalizer pole and swing settings are adjusted (via programmable register or continuous analog settings) to undo the effects of distortion and thus attempt to reproduce the original transmitted signal at the receiver.
DFE settings have been either manually set or set with a fixed pole setting while the swing setting is optimally adapted over time using a known algorithm. The later method, as disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0239341 filed Apr. 21, 2005, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety, are utilized for setting the DFE swing setting. Other methods may include the steps of 1) examining all possible combinations of settings; 2) measuring a performance metric such as the rate at which bit errors occur; and 3) setting the swing and pole to optimize the performance metric. These steps could be employed once at start up or repeated periodically to track variations over time.